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Post by bushwick on Aug 16, 2009 12:42:28 GMT
I've only read 'Pestilence', and that's a pretty ridiculous book. There's a long segment where the book just becomes a travelogue for a town in Essex? Proper extraneous detail. Don't have the book to hand so can't remember the details.
(Reading 'Eat Them Alive' has been a seismic event in my life. And I lent it to my brother, who's lost the fucker, without even reading the bloody thing first!!grrrr...)
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Post by bushwick on Aug 14, 2009 9:46:21 GMT
I knew somebody here would have the scoop. Cheers Andy. Looks like I'm going to start with these as well, I like the sound of the Brunner stuff. More strain on shelves to come.
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Post by bushwick on Aug 13, 2009 22:50:25 GMT
some good points here.
There are also shedloads of Warhammer books that must do OK. Have briefly scanned through 'em in charity shops, and they don't seem anywhere near as 'edgy' as older stuff but I could be wrong. Has anyone read any of them? I imagine they must be written under similar conditions to PC Westerns or other old series - multiple authors, pseudonyms etc?
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Post by bushwick on Aug 13, 2009 9:44:03 GMT
This doesn't answer the question, but I just thought of it...hear me out!
What happened to film tie-ins? Because, more visceral horror films have been popular at the box office over recent years - Hostel, Saw et al - and also truly pulpy mens-adventure movies like 300, Beowulf etc. The filmic equivalent of a lot of the books from the 70s/80s.
What surprises me is that there have been (as far as I know) no tie-in novels associated with these books. Surely a novelisation of 'Hostel' would fly off the shelves in Borders. If these sold well, would they not lead to similar stand-alone, non-movie associated novels being written, to capitalise on sales?
If you extrapolate this theory down the line a few years, you should see a bookshop full of tales of horrible torture, brave barbarians, even monster stuff like 'Cloverfield'. If it's popular on film, why not on paper?
There's been loads of candidates for the pulp treatment in the last couple of years, off the top of my head "Doomsday", "Rise of the Footsoldier". "Death Race", "Eden Lake"....many more as well. This could rejuvenate pulp writing/publishing, by the back door, as it were?
Thoughts? Anyone who knows more than the naff-all I know about current publishing trends/practice?
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Post by bushwick on Aug 12, 2009 17:02:35 GMT
I was in Felpham on Monday and Tuesday. On the way back through Bognor Regis, there was a Paperback Exchange bookshop with a bustling horror section. Lots of good stuff, and I came away with around a dozen books (including The Farm by Richard Haigh, some Sphere oddity called Project Dracula, and a first of Herbert's The Rats). Mark S. I always go there whenever I visit my ma. cracking little shop. the stickers they put on the books are impossible to get off clean though!
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Post by bushwick on Aug 10, 2009 12:23:47 GMT
Picked up a really nice condition 1965 Four Square edition of this a while back, and after reading JLP's review of 'Horror Of Malformed Men', read 'The Caterpillar' by Rampo last night. A Japanese Charles Birkin? Found it quite an affecting story and made me want to read more. (Also made me want to read more anthologies).
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Post by bushwick on Aug 9, 2009 8:57:17 GMT
I wonder...
Would really like to know though, as this is a cracking novel. Have you read it yet HP? what did you reckon?
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Post by bushwick on Aug 9, 2009 0:23:50 GMT
Just been reading some of these. Good stuff John. Wholeheartedly agree with your analysis of '30 Days Of Night'. I despised it, and couldn't even sit through till the end. Just bad on so many levels, all veneer with nothing behind it. This is a textbook case of modern horror appearing to tick all the right boxes but failing miserably. I also thought Spanish movie 'REC' was crap, for similar reasons, and everyone seemed to love that too. Have you seen the British movie from a couple of years ago called 'Broken'? Thought that was really good. Strong stuff that could get called 'torture porn' if one was misguided, but there's a lot more to it than that. If you 'enjoyed' Wolf Creek, then this one hits some of the same spots: www.imdb.com/title/tt0454839/You're a Norman J Warren fan aren't you? Have you seen 'Prey'? Have just acquired it but not watched it yet. It sounds completely insane: www.imdb.com/title/tt0086872/
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Post by bushwick on Aug 5, 2009 13:34:51 GMT
Maybe Ms White or one who knows of her may see a copy once it's published...we can hope.
As I have often recounted on here, 'The Clinic' was the story that blew my mind and led to me finding this damp-smelling, poorly lit forum upon which we post...
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Post by bushwick on Aug 2, 2009 20:52:05 GMT
Excellent work Johnny, this is some impressive stuff.
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Post by bushwick on Aug 1, 2009 18:14:21 GMT
Absolutely splendid work Steve, you nailed it. I've only read the first one from this series (but have this one too) and my jaw dropped for the duration of the whole thing. So, so wrong.
Your point-by-point review definitely illustrates the appeal of these books. I wonder if 'Phoenix' is the most OTT series? Doomsday Warrior is not quite as violent (not quite) but easily as stupid. Have only skimmed through a Survivalist but seems tame in comparison...
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Post by bushwick on Jul 30, 2009 9:52:12 GMT
I have 'The Medusa Horror' by Drew Lamark (Futura 1983). Not read it but blurb speaks of a 'ghastly swell of venomous jellyfish' that 'exude aggression'. Some supernatural mumbo-jumbo may also be at work, as 'ensnarled in their slime is a horrible assortment of malevolent creatures intent on destruction'.
Killer jellyfish also feature in Glenn Chandler's 'The Sanctuary', amongst other rampaging animals.
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Post by bushwick on Jul 30, 2009 9:47:10 GMT
Good work HP, that's the feller! Brings back memories. Didn't realise one of the authors was famed Beatles illustrator Aldridge. Cheers!
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Post by bushwick on Jul 29, 2009 13:26:53 GMT
I used to have the 'Pictorial...' version years ago, it may still be at my mum's house under a pile of junk somewhere. But I found the 'Terror' paperback version in a charity shop last year. Great book, beautiful art by the likes of Finlay and the very original indeed Lee Browne Coye.
(3 seminal books from my youth would be this, the Gifford horror movie book, and I also used to have a big trade paperback about comics...wish I could remember what it was called...seem to remember it was quite a mature analysis that went over my head pretty much, but there was a full page of Crumb's 'Fritz The Cat' that seemed somehow subversive to my young eyes despite not being explicit. Might have been a Penguin book?)
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Post by bushwick on Jul 28, 2009 17:12:45 GMT
These are good criteria, but I think one should be added for 'one-dimensional pure evil of villains'. The Commie villains in Doomsday Warrior are all completely degenerate, physically repulsive, love inflicting pain on good Americans and sleep with kids. Heroes should be free of all prejudice, a multi-ethnic crew symbolising the American Dream. No shades of grey in characterisation!
Also there should be a rating for names. In DW, the hero is Ted Rockson, the Ultimate American. In Phoenix, it's Magnus Trench. Alpha male names...
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